Regular viewers may recall my rearing a few Mallards over the last couple of years and introducing them to the river. Today I can reveal the story of one of those remarkable Mallards and her contribution to the beautiful white duck variety introduced today. Last year one of my Mallard ducks nested in a boat not once but TWICE, the first time half her eggs were stolen, she ended up hatching 3 in April 2011, one of which I saw laying dead on the pontoon (unexplained by the boat owner), the remaining two died of cold shortly after I arrived at the harbour because they were in the water too long and unable to get out. After this tragedy she nested in yet another boat (boats rarely move in the harbour), I resolved that this tragedy would not happen again. The eggs had been laid in the bow of the second boat on the floor, should the owner have used the boat the eggs would have been smashed for sure. With the harbour masters permission I removed both the duck and the eggs and took them home to the coop. Unfortunately because she didn't have her mate she would not settle and would not sit on the eggs, I had no choice but to let her return to her mate and put the eggs in an incubator.Within 2 weeks she had disappeared from the harbour but her mate was still around , I suspect she was killed by either the Mink or the Otter in the harbour. In due course 4 of her eggs hatched in the incubator, and as luck would have it, two of them were female and bore a remarkable resemblance to her.When they were about 10 weeks old and just ready to fly I released them into the river where they integrated successfully with the other ducks. My close daily contact with all the river ducks meant that I could observe them in detail, and looked forward to this spring to see if they would mate. Sure enough she did, and built a beautiful nest on the island strip at the road bridge, it seemed the perfect spot safe and camouflaged.
The poor duck however was not aware that the April Spring tide would swamp the nest, and any heavy river spate could do the same. I agonised over what to do, knowing the impending tide was due and the river was also in spate, it seemed wrong to let the nest be destroyed when I knew how to save the eggs. The day before the flood I removed 6 eggs from the nest and replaced them with hens eggs, this was in case the nest got flooded but not washed away and she would continue to sit on them. The following day the raging river was well above the nest level and I knew all would be lost, I was right ! Anyway I placed 5 eggs in the incubator because one was cracked and had to be discarded, they were already more than half way through their incubation period and 4 hatched within a couple of weeks.
To my astonishment 3 of them were beautiful yellow ducklings - I was gobsmacked and realised she must have mated with one of the 4 or 5 hybrid drakes that are still around from the previous blonde ducks we had a few years ago. The 4th one is a normal mallard drake, and the 5th did not hatch at all. It has been a lot of work but such a privilege to have saved reared and released these beautiful ducks today.
This is not the end of the story however, after losing her nest to the flood my remarkable duck built another nest on the building site of the new pipeline at brochers brae.
She chose the only bush that the contractors did not uproot and built her nest under it. I was terrified that she would be run over by the heavy machinery constantly in use and asked the digger drivers to be careful - which they did. As I reported in a previous post vandals kicked over all the temporary fencing close to the nest, scared her off and the gulls got her eggs ! After choosing two apparently safe nest sites she was deprived of rearing a brood yet again ! I have used the word remarkable intentionally, because my intrepid duck is again sitting on eggs in a new location for the 3rd time this year, remarkable indeed ! It puts paid to the notion that you can't rear a mallard and return it to the wild, I also think her sister is sitting on eggs too, and I should know within 2 weeks if both are successful, wish them both well ! Her white ducks in the river today appear to resemble white Campbell's, and at 9 weeks are the same size as a Mallard.
The sequence of pics shows the Grand mother duck in the harbour last year, then her 4 offspring, then the current Mother duck on both her previous destroyed nests. (she is the current nesting mother of the white and normal mallard, both seen hatching together in the incubator). After witnessing all this, my admiration and love for ducks grows even more !
3 comments:
Well done Joe its good to see somebody that really care about the wildlife and the ducks and swans in particular--once again WELL DONE JOE.
That's a fantastic story, great dedication on your part too, very well done!
Thank you Kindly Anon's. I can tell you that in one season she has learned where NOT to nest, her current nest site cannot possibly get flooded and cannot be easily targeted by predators. Many people take ducks for granted, they seem to think they just float around and quack. In fact their lives are a constant battle for survival of their young or themselves. They have to fend off unwanted Drakes, then lay up to 14 eggs and sit on them for a month. When hatched it is a battle to get the ducklings to water guarding them against all the predators who want to eat them ! This battle lasts for 2 months looking after and fending off unwanted males and predators. Only when the surviving young are about ready to fly at 10 weeks will the mother finally let them fend for themselves. By this time Autumn has arrived and the search for food to survive the winter takes over.
It's not all swanning around and quacking !
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